According to Alex Schiffer, FOS noted that the market for Michael Jordan-related memorabilia has “skyrocketed” since ESPN aired The Last Dance documentary series in 2020. With this context in mind, imagine a card of MJ with Kobe Bryant. Naturally, the price will break records and create history. That’s exactly what happened as the piece of cardboard was sold for over $12.9 million. Let’s first understand the hype around the card.

Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant Dual Logoman

The 2007–08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs features game-worn Logoman patches and on-card signatures from Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. What’s special? It is created as a true 1-of-1 centerpiece of the Exquisite era’s premium patch-auto concept. That’s why it is widely regarded as a modern “holy grail.” With 11 championships in between them, and the history of the Lakers legend being the ‘1B’ to Jordan’s ‘1A’, the history helps in pumping the value overboard.

It set the all-time sports card auction record at $12.932 million!

Now that we know why the value was so high, let’s understand who actually bid for it.

Who Bought the $12.9M Jordan–Bryant Card? Confirmed buyer identities

To get the size of this stature, it was no else than a Herculean task. That’s why even the purchase was a joint deal. Not one, not two, but three people came in together to make this card worth nearly $13 million. Kevin O’Leary, Matt Allen, and Paul Warshaw.

Kevin O’Leary: Investor/TV personality, the Shark Tank star, disclosed on CNBC that he co-bought the card as part of a three-person syndicate to avoid bidding against each other. In fact, the Canadian venture capitalist who has a net worth of $400 million described it as an index-style asset alongside crypto and gold holdings.

Matt Allen: Hobby mega-collector confirmed by Heritage and follow-up reports as one of the partners in the purchase, and Paul Warshaw: Miami-based entrepreneur named as the third partner by Heritage confirmations and regional coverage. “We bought it together, yes we did,” O’Leary said during a Monday morning appearance on CNBC. “I’m very proud to own it.” O’Leary said the three men hatched a plan to buy the item, considered “the finest modern basketball card in the world,” via a 3 a.m. Zoom call. Their purchase makes it the most expensive sports card sold at auction – surpassing a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle No. 311, which went for $12.6 million in August 2022.

What was initially reported?

The card was sold on this past Saturday, and immediately post-sale, the buyer’s identity was “not revealed” by outlets covering the auction result. Yes, it happened on the same date as Kobe Bryant’s birthday. Who would have been 47, if not for that unfortunate helicopter crash. That’s why some fans had issues with the sale in the first place.

The specialty was this card is that it was graded a PSA 6 out of 10. The lower the rating, the lower the price and appeal of any memorabilia. But this was not applicable for this card, as Chris Ivy, Heritage’s director of sports auctions, reflected on the card’s significance.

“Grades matter as far as pricing goes for standard-issue cards, but this is a 1-of-1, so the grade is less important overall to how the card performed.” A huge sale should have plastered the new owner’s name, but it didn’t, and here’s why.

Why do identities matter?

Public buyer IDs can influence market confidence and comps, especially when the purchasers are prominent collectors or investors who frame cards as part of diversified “store-of-value” portfolios. Syndicate buys also signal institutional demand for top-tier grails. Plus, the previous owner of the card too kept his identity a secret. Still, he was bombarded with offers from time and again. Ivy said about the previous owner, “had held the card for over a decade, turning down several ‘high seven-figure’ private offers before sending it to auction.” The auction house, Heritage, estimated it would top $6 million, but the Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan broke records.

In fact, Allen, one of the co-owners of this card, previously spent $4 million on two Bryant 1-of-1 signed Panini Flawless Logoman cards. One from 2017-18 for $1.7 million and one from 2015-16 for $2.3 million. This was the record paid for a Bryant card until Saturday night’s sale. The MJ-Kobe card also beat the $5.2 million LeBron James rookie card, which was previously the highest-rated basketball card until the Jordan/Bryant sale.